Visitors to London soar for wedding of Wills and Kate

Friday 11 February 2011 11:50 BST

Travel operators said today the royal wedding weekend was due to be their busiest of the year.

More than a million visitors are preparing to descend on London for the big day of Prince William and Kate Middleton on Friday 29 April. There is said to be huge interest, particularly, from the US and continental Europe.

Travel website Expedia.co.uk reported a 266 per cent rise in bookings for the weekend compared to the same time last year. The website has even launched a dedicated royal wedding page featuring deals to London as well as options outside the capital.

Spokesman Andrew Warner said: "The royal wedding is proving a welcome stimulus for the travel industry and we have seen a significant increase in bookings from travellers seeking to watch the spectacle."

National Express said demand had been so high it was putting on a royal wedding coach service. Managing director Andrew Cleaves said: "When the wedding was announced we had hundreds of enquiries from people wanting to get to London."

He added that they released tickets early at a 50 per cent discount and attracted thousands of customers. "We are now preparing to launch National Express Royal Wedding Coach Specials," he said. British Airways is offering a royal wedding package that includes a round-trip flight from New York and three nights in a London hotel.

Rail bookers thetrainline.com said that although it could not take bookings more than 12 weeks in advance, it warned travellers to book early.

Director of marketing Iain Hildreth said: "As the royal wedding is one of the biggest and most anticipated events of this year, we're expecting to see a large number of bookings."

Visit London said that on an average day 500,000 people visited London, but an additional 600,000 were expected for the wedding. If the same number that came for the wedding of Charles and Diana in 1981 was repeated, the economic benefit could be worth £50 million.